CEN21LA088 · Rans S12XL
Rans S12XL · Accident: loss of control in flight
From Port Isabel Cameron County Airport (PIL) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN21LA088
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Rans S12XL
- Aircraft type
- Rans S12
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N449JP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Port Isabel Cameron County Airport (PIL), Port Isabel, TXTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 15 years (built 2005)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Unknown
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The noncertificated pilot and flight instructor departed on an instructional flight in the experimental airplane. The airplane was later located about 1/3 mile south of the departure airport. There were no witnesses to the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and fuselage.
A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that engine exhibited detonation and scoring of its cylinders, which would have resulted in a loss of engine power. Incorrect timing, poor fuel quality, and lubrication breakdown could have contributed, however, based on the available evidence, the reason for the detonation could not be determined.
The impact damage of the airplane and lack of ground scarring was characteristic of a low-speed nose-down impact with terrain, which would have resulted from an aerodynamic stall. The airplane make and model is categorized as rapidly losing energy (airspeed/altitude) when there is a loss or reduction of engine power. The airplane was equipped with a snow mobile engine. The required airplane flight testing was not performed following the installation of the engine and, as a result, may have induced negative handling qualities during low-speed flight, such as those near the stall flight regime.
Although the flight instructor’s autopsy showed signs of heart disease it’s unlikely this impaired his ability to respond to the engine failure. Additionally, the noncertificated pilot’s autopsy showed cardiovascular disease that increased his risk of experiencing a sudden impairing or incapacitating medical event. Toxicology testing detected Duloxetine; a medication commonly used to treat depression. Metaxalone, cetirizine, and Chlorthalidone were also detected and combined had the potential to cause impairment. However, because the flight instructor was the only qualified pilot abord the airplane, held the responsibility for ensuring the safe operation of the flight, and for responding to the engine emergency, the noncertificated pilot would have not had the skill or experience to play more than a very limited role. Thus, it is unlikely that the effects of his medical conditions or medications contributed to the accident.
Probable cause
An exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and aerodynamic stall following a loss of engine power during an unknown phase of flight, which resulted in an impact with terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN21LA088
- Event ID
- 20201216102420
- Case number
- CEN21LA088
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2020-12-16.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 1750636e234799a75cd67d48dc0b93fb47007145f9c18981e33a32efb6112b8d; retrieved 2026-09-15T07:23:34.070Z.